iLoathe You (A Lot)
A/N: I'm still overwhelmed by how utterly nice you guys have been with the feedbacks, please, keep them coming! I'm not really proud of this one but it's one of the few stories that takes a more serious and even a bit of a sad approach on their relationship. I wish it was funnier but it's not, sorry, lol. I didn't review this text for typos and grammar yet so…Good luck reading!
And if you didn't get your review replied is probably 'cause you don't accept ffnet PMs! Go change that configuration already! Love.
iWas Mad at You
Summary: Sam forgives Freddie. Even though she didn't know she was angry in the first place. Set during "iEnrage Gibby".
"You have to talk Gibby out of this stupid fight." Carly mentioned on their way home from school. Sam stared at her in surprise as if she had just asked her to throw five pounds of fillet through the window.
"Excuse me, have we met?" Sam said still shocked Carly would ask her of all people to stop anyone from hitting Freddie. "I think you mistook me for someone who cares." Carly rolled her eyes at Sam's ways knowingly and said:
"You do care." Sam raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, you do. You offered him meat the other day during lunch and you never offer meat to anyone but me and your cat." Sam shrugged:
"You don't know. Maybe I had poisoned it…"
"You wouldn't waste meat on a simple murder attempt."
"Maybe it had fallen on the floor…"
"Like that has ever stopped you before."
Sam stared at Carly speechless for almost a minute, almost forgetting to hold on to her smoothie. She slowly blinked herself out of a trance and scowled:
"Still…I'm not helping the dork."
"Oh, c'mon, Sam, he doesn't deserve to be "Gibby Bashed"." Sam laughed:
"You're right, nobody deserves that…" They arrived at Bushwell Plaza just in time to find Freddie and his mom about to leave for their weekly doctor appointment. Sam's expression changed from glee to contempt in less than a second. "…except him. He deserves whatever comes his way."
"How come I got here before you guys? You left at least half an hour before I did!" Freddie pointed out as he spotted them.
"Your super dorky powers make you move faster." Sam answered immediately, as if in reflex. Carly glared at her and waved her smoothie cup at Freddie:
"Emergency Stop at the Groovy Smoothie 'cause Sam was hungry."
"And it only took you half an hour to consider yourself full?" He stared in shock at Sam and then turned back to Carly. "We have a new record!" Sam opened her mouth to say something but Mrs. Benson was already yelling from the door for Freddie to hurry and Lewbert looked as if he was about to rub his wart against them, so they split hurriedly; Freddie towards his mom and the girls towards the stairs.
"I wonder what Mrs. Benson will do once she finds out Gibby wants to fight Freddie." Carly mentioned while they went up, trying to get back into the previous topic. "Poor Freddie…" She glanced at Sam from the corner of her eye, trying to check for a reaction. Sam stopped walking abruptly as she heard Carly's words and her gaze soon became lost. "Sam?" Carly tried. "Are you ok?"
"Shush!" Sam raised her hand in the air. "I'm enjoying the moment here. Oh the things she will do…"
"Sam!"Carly yelled.
"What?" She asked snapping out from her state and walking again. "Look, why don't you do it? He's your stalker, not mine." Carly looked tired as she breathed in heavily:
"I did! I mean, at least I tried, but it turns out that, since I hang around with Freddie, people assume we are friends so, when I went to Gibby to help him see reason, he accused me of just trying to protect a friend." She stared at Sam pleadingly again. "You, on the other hand, do nothing but torture him all the time. No one would expect you to defend him if he wasn't really innocent." They arrived at number 8C's door and Sam was still in silence. "Sam?" Carly tried with a smile and her most persuasive tone. "Please?"
"I don't know, Carls, it's still too much of a beautiful scenario to avoid. I mean, face it, would you stop the sun from setting? The birds from singing? The fried chicken from coming in buckets?" Sam was lost in a trance again. "I'm not sure I can do it, Carly, it's against everything I believe in."
"I'll buy you bacon."
"Let's call Gibby, shall we?"
Sam took a deep breath. For some reason she couldn't quite figure out, being at Gibby's front door made her feel nauseated and icky. Sure, she had around three to five thousand theories as to why that was happening (and only the minority of them had anything to do with the meatloaf leftovers she had found under her bed that morning and eaten anyway) but still, they didn't feel quite accurate. Before she could ring the bell, however, her phone vibrated. She stared at screen and picked it up:
"Dork."
"Devil."
"What's up?"
"Have you, by any chance, seen my gym shorts?"
"Gross. Why would I know that?"
"Because they have been missing since yesterday after class and today a couple of guys from AV club told me they saw you setting something on fire at the school's parking lot." Sam bit her lower lip pondering:
"Were they dark blue?"
"Yeah."
"Did they have white stripes on the side, a stain close to the left knee and your initials written in black marker on the inside strap?"
"Yes." Freddie answered trying to control his tone. Sam went quiet for a minute or more:
"Uh…No, I haven't seen them at all."
"Yeah, right, 'cause you sounded very convincible."
"Whatever rocks your boat, dude." She said. "I'm busy now, so…"
"No, Sam, wait. There's something I want to ask you."
"Good, I thought you'd never ask." She answered happily. "Carly doesn't like you 'cause, besides being a nub, you're also very…"
"It's not that!" He yelled from the other side of the line.
"Oh." She sounded honestly disappointed. "Then what? Hurry up; I don't have all day and…"
"Are you mad at me?" Sam was interrupted midsentence and found herself unable to answer to that question for a while until she finally regained composure and answered:
"Yes."
Freddie was quiet, absorbing the information. Sam rolled her eyes, so typical of him to overreact at her attitude:
"Of course, I'm mad at you, Freddifer. I've been mad at you since I met you; the fact that you exist enrages me more than the idea of fat-free fat cakes." She heard him sighing in relief from the other side of the line which confused her a bit. "Why ask?"
He chuckled nervously:
"I'm not sure it's sane to answer to that question." His answer sent a cold feeling through her whole body and her voice came out hoarse, filled with anger and promises of physical pain:
"Did you do something to enrage me, Benson?" She took a breath. "Something more specific than being born in the same generation as me and daring to live in the same country, like that time when you handcuffed me to Gibby?" Freddie laughed out loud then stopped abruptly as he heard the sound of her heavy breathing.
"Uh...no, no! I swear! I was just wondering cause…" He went quiet. "'Cause I think you've been acting weird." He went quiet again. "Weirder than usual, you know?"
"No." She answered bluntly. "I don't know what you mean."
Everything went quiet, Sam almost hang up on Freddie 'cause this whole thing was getting on her nerves but she waited anyway 'cause something in the way he was breathing told her that he was freaking out really hard and she truly loved when he freaked out. It was the highlight of her grey Seattle days. She knew him well enough to know it was a matter of seconds before he started yelling randomly in Spanish so she just remained quiet waiting hopefully for the desperate cries that were about to come.
"FREDDIE'S WEDGIE FEBBIE!" He yelled louder than what she had expected him to.
"What?" She managed to mumble, absolutely confused.
"Oh, you know what I mean; you were the one who named it in the first place! It's February! Every February, you celebrate my birthday by giving me at least seven wedgies a week, but it's almost March and yet…"
Sam went so quiet, Freddie honestly thought she had hung up now. When she finally spoke, her voice was half amused half bewildered:
"You thought…I was mad at you because…I haven't…" She tried really hard not to laugh. "…given you…your birthday wedgies?"
"I told you it wasn't a sane answer!" He said defensive. "I just, you know, got a little worried and…It's not like I miss it or anything. If you have given up the tradition, then I'm ok with it. It'll be nice to be able to have children someday." Sam sneered:
"I don't know why you complain…It's not like you'll ever get the opportunity to find out whether your swimmers can or can't…"
"Just shut up, will you?" He cut her off, embarrassed. "And FYI…" He really did say the three letters, Sam thought, what kind of loser speaks like that? "My mom and I do a monthly check on my swimmers…and they are alright." Freddie went quiet. "Why did I just tell you that?"
"You must have no wish for a social life, I suppose." Sam sighed, smirking. "Now, if you excuse me, I have a few blog entries to post and texts to send."
"Ugh, Sam, no…Why can't you just…?" She hung up ignoring his protests and sighed happily. Nothing could possibly smell, taste or feel better than her good and old daily dose of Freddie failures.
Except for meat flavored jellybeans; if they ever invented meat flavored jellybeans, they'd be the best thing in the world.
Sam put her phone back on her jeans' pocket and stared at the Gibson's door once again; suddenly, she felt icky again for no apparent reason. As Sam really hated not feeling good, she decided to solve everything at once and leave the place. Life had taught her that whenever she felt something painful dancing in her guts, it could always mean you were feeling your scrupulous shaping up. She feared that more than she feared the extinction of pigs so, whenever she felt anything remotely similar to emotional pain, she just ran away from it.
That's the Puckett way of handling things.
"Gibby!" She yelled and punched the door. "Move your shirtless ass right here and open this door." The door opened but Sam didn't see anyone. "Uh?" She looked around for someone 'till she felt a pull on her pants and looked down. She let out a horrified scream:
"Oh my God! Gibby, you became a midget!" She said looking at the mini version of Gibby staring at her.
"That's Guppy, Sam, my little brother." The real Gibby appeared at the living room.
"Little Brother?" Sam was shocked. "That's weird."
"Why? Can't I have a sibling?"
"Of course you can, I just don't see why anyone would try for a second baby with the same person after they had….you." Gibby raised his eyebrows at her.
"My mom likes us."
"I'm sure she does." She said rolling her eyes and following Gibby inside his house all the way to the backyard where he had a punching bag with Freddie's picture glued to it. "Aww…" Sam sighed happily. "This reminds me of my own place!"
Gibby didn't seem to listen to her as he started to punch the bag like there was no tomorrow. Normally, Sam would've enjoyed the moment but the house made her feel bad, Mini Gibby was a little scary and as if watching Gibby walk around shirtless wasn't already bad enough, seeing him throwing punches while his belly "jiggled" was even worse, so she spoke:
"Soooo, Gibby, you're probably wondering why I'm here." She started.
"No, I'm not." He answered without looking at her. "You're going to try to stop me from fighting Freddie." Sam felt her stomach turn:
"Oh man, just the sound of this idea makes me feel sick!" She said rubbing her belly. "But yeah, that's why. Don't hit Freddie." Gibby looked back at her and shrugged:
"Hm, one would think you'd be more vehement on your speech."
"Hm?" She asked, confused.
"I mean, I thought you'd try punching me out of it or something. I thought Benson was like your…"
"Finish this sentence and I will punch you, Gibson." Sam said, her eyes narrowed to a very thin line. Gibby gulped and went back to his punching bag.
Sam watched him throwing punches; he wasn't bad, really but his moves were weak, inconsistent…Even Freddork would have a chance against him, if he didn't keep his guard up.
"Gibby, give up, will you? Freddie didn't hit on your girlfriend and neither did she. Do you honestly think Freddie had any chance with Tasha?" Sam decided it was best not to mention that, if Tasha was willing to date Gibby, she was probably willing to date a rotten can of soup as well. Gibby didn't look at her. "Besides, Benson is a lot of disgusting things but he is not…" She fought the urge to puke and laugh at the same time what made the next words need a lot of effort to come out. "He's not…a player." She left a chuckle escape her lips, she couldn't help herself. "Today was a weird day." She told him shrugging when he stared at her confused.
"It doesn't matter." He punched the bag again.
"What you mean it doesn't matter? Of course it matters!" She walked strong steps and stood with her hands on her hips next to the punching bag. "I'm telling you Freddie didn't make a move on Tasha; it was an accident! It didn't mean anything to neither of them!" Gibby breathed in and out and then sighed tiredly:
"The thing is, Sam, that, until you are in my situation, you won't be able to understand." This sentence required a whole lot of will power from Sam as all she wanted was to ask whether she'd understand him better if she took her shirt off. Once her urges were controlled, she scowled at Gibby; that conversation was already taking longer than what she had intended.
"Try me." She said her arms around the punching bag so Gibby wouldn't be tempted to avoid conversation. He looked at her and then at the punching bag 'till his eyes finally fell to the ground.
"I like Tasha, ok?" He said at last. "And she liked me; and we had something. We had our jokes and our plans and she liked me even when I didn't wear shirts for our dates or when I started dancing randomly at public places. Tasha was mine!" Sam focused on the bacon Carly was going to buy her. This whole awkward conversation would be worth it when she had the bacon with her. Gibby went on:
"Freddie didn't know Tasha, he didn't like Tasha." He looked really mad. "Sam, do you have any idea how it feels to walk into somewhere you go everyday, somewhere that feels like home and find two people you like and trust acting behind your back?" Sam was going to roll her eyes but stopped. She stared at Gibby and she then understood why that house felt so icky to her, her nails carved into the punching bag slightly.
"I was happy that day, I was very happy." Gibby told her. "I went up there to pick Tasha up and say bye to Freddie and suddenly my world was upside down with anger and betrayal." Sam had no idea Gibby could be so passionate, still she thought his feelings to be quite captivating as she too felt her blood boiling under her skin. But then again, she was not known for her self-control.
"I'm Gibby, Sam, I've always been Gibby: weird, funny, shirtless Gibby but not to Tasha. Tasha looked at me differently; she was the only one in the whole world…"
"Besides your mom." Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, besides my mom." He agreed. "Tasha could have anyone she wanted but she was with me, you know? It really hurt seeing her there, it felt like…No matter how much I did, in the end of the day, I was still…just Gibby; she could still have something better."
"Freddie is not better than you, Gibby." Sam said, patting Gibby on the head. "Freddie is not even better than botulism! She laughed but Gibby just looked at her seriously:
"Ok, let me just ask you one question; if it were you, what would you do?"
Sam's first reaction to this was to open her mouth to say "I'd beat the crap out of them and move on. That's how I do it, I don't hold grudges on people I like; I just grab, spank, bleed them out and then…forgive." But she wasn't able to speak. She closed her mouth and thought.
"Are you mad at me?" The sentence he had said earlier appeared on her head all of a sudden. She wasn't mad at him, she wasn't mad at anyone. Still, when she now thought about it…She really had avoided the wedgies and the prank calls…And she even didn't feel like sending him his monthly fake romantic text from Carly's phone. She had walked out on him the next day, when he came towards her with a smirk that could only mean he wanted to brag about something. She pretended she didn't care, she pretended she didn't see anything…
She was mad at him.
It wasn't out of jealousy or anything, of course. She remembered everything now: the way he had laughed when Gibby had refused to go with her and the way he had gotten a bunch of invites and how every guy in town wanted to go with Carly while she was alone…
It wasn't that she was mad at Freddie for dancing with Carly, she realized, she just hated the feeling of walking in into the two people who are always at your side to realize that, even for them, you aren't exactly necessary.
Funnily enough, she realized she hadn't been mad at Carly at all; she was used to the idea of she being better than her all the time. Who wouldn't like Carly? She's everyone's ideal of what a girl should be. Freddie, however…He wasn't allowed to have a life, let alone one that was better than hers.
Unfortunately for Sam, though, she realized she couldn't blame Freddie for not noticing she was mad for so long. She was still mean towards him and she still talked to him…It was not like she had changed a lot from her usual ways. Up until now, even she was ignorant to her own anger.
Even though she hated the simple thought of the comparison, she understood that her relationship with Freddie was somewhat like Tasha and Gibby's (in more senses than just the fact that the female was too hot to be seen walking next to the male): Freddie had learned not to back up when she threatened him, he had learned how to persuade her into doing things and, although he knew all the evil stuff she could do, he was still her friend…Every now and then.
Freddie put up with her inner Gibby, she concluded dramatically. Still, if Freddie could be left alone with Carly…Not the way they were before, while she was grateful he had saved her life. If they simply "could be", Sam realized, she'd be the one left aside.
Sam finally understood Gibby's situation. And she also realized she couldn't simply tell her friends about her own anger 'cause it was too pathetic.
And it would also make Freddie act all arrogant and stuff, which was even worse than sounding pathetic.
So she just shouted really loud, like a savage rabid cat – which made poor Guppy run for his life, crying – and punched Gibby's punching bag so hard it felt from its supporting chains. Freddie's photo on it was now crumbled in a way you could barely recognize it was him; she took a look at Gibby, her body still frozen in her punching position. He was looking at her, his eyes the size of golf balls and his legs shaking.
"Wha…What was that?" His voice came out barely audible. "Why…did you…?"
Sam smirked:
"You see what I just did here?" He nodded, unable to speak. "I'll teach how to do it if you promise me that that will be it."
"What?"
"Promise me you will kick Freddie's ass and humiliate him but then…promise me you'll get over it."
"What?"
"Grudges are stupid. Especially over such a stupid thing as a girlfriend; no matter how mad you are right now, it's not worth stop talking to such a good friend."
"How can I be sure you won't be a double agent, telling him what you're training me to do?"
"Seriously, Gibby?" She mocked him. "Why would I ever stop anyone from attacking Freddie? Seeing him suffer it's my favorite sport." She smiled; suddenly the house didn't feel as bad as it had felt earlier; she felt lighter. She wasn't holding a grudge anymore.
"And when you punch him…" She told Gibby. "Make sure you tell him "Sam taught me this one." Tell him it's a gift from me."
Gibby was still watching the bag on the ground and Guppy was still nowhere to be seen.
"Well, I'll leave you here to think about it; call me as soon as you decide." She said with a smile and a wave. "I have some birthday wedgies to give and I'm already a little late."
A/N: I don't actually believe Sam got mad at Freddie at that scene, this idea just popped up while I was writing this story a while ago. This one was much longer than the original version but I should probably warn you that there are at least two more of these who are longer. One of them being about Sam and Freddie's blog entries on the Thanksgiving they had to spend together and the other being about iReunite with Missy. There are some other stories other than those two but you can keep suggesting scenes, guys. I love it when you do! :}